Walking Dead 1. Chapter 1

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Robert

I was fighting for my life. That was all I had time to think of. The zombies had already killed so many of us. I couldn't let them kill any more. We were in London. I wasn't sure where but I could see our goal just down the street. A big department store. By the look of it no one had raided it yet. I looked at the remainder of our raiding party. Cam, Jack and Molly. Just the four of us. Originally there were ten but we were ambushed along the way. I gripped the spear harder and stabbed one in the throat and kicked it away. We couldn't hold them off any longer.

"Guys! We need to pull back!" I shouted at the group. With immediate affect they all pushed the zombies away and started walking backwards towards the River Thames. From there it would only be a short journey to our base. The Tower Of London.

"Robert! There's more coming on the left!" I heard someone shout. I looked over. There was a group of about fifteen coming towards us. Add that to the number that was already attacking us and it makes around thirty. It was hopeless… We were surrounded… This mission was a failure… I can remember how this all started… The disease… Surviving… Everything….


	2. Chapter 2

_Summer '13_

"Why is it so cold out?" The girl in the passenger's seat asked as she looked out the window and tucked a lock of curly, dark brown hair behind her ear.

The man next to her, the man driving the car, scoffed as he rounded the car around the curb. "Please, it's not _that_ cold."

She rolled her eyes. "Well it is to me. Don't you think it's strange, Eric?"

The man, Eric, didn't seem to be paying attention as he rapped his fingers against the steering wheel to the music that was easing from the radio's speakers.

She blinked, furrowing her brow. "Eric." She tried again; when he didn't answer, she responded again with a punch in his arm—in which he replied with a yelp and a, "Hey, don't punch me; I'm driving!"

"I asked you if you thought it was strange." She repeated herself, her bright blue eyes becoming slightly irritated.

"There's nothing _strange_ about it, Mia, Florida has bizarre weather all the time." Eric explained as he pushed up his dark glasses with his knuckle, the other had stopped tapping against the beat and was loosely holding onto the grip of the wheel; his arm barely moving from side-to-side as to keep in the white lines of the road.

"Yeah, but…it's summer. Florida's always been hotter than cold—not the other way around." For instance, she rubbed her palms against her arms, trying to generate warmth into her bloodstreams and muscles, and reached forward to turn up the heat on the car's dials.

"It's already hot in here, though," Eric complained, but Mia didn't seem to take notice as she mentally decided not to protest about the weather with him. So she gave him a sideways glance, a sly smirk and said, "Well deal with it."

Eric lightly shook his head. "You're so stubborn."

"Only to you, I am," said Mia as she reached forward and lightly patted his cheek, in which he grumbled against the action and swatted her hand away.

Mia chuckled and sat back against her seat, looking out the window, but then it seemed as if the song that was currently playing had finally dawned on her mind, and her face slightly twisted in distaste. She leaned forward and pressed the pad of her forefinger against the buttons with separate numbers labeled on them. Each time she did, a new station would scratch on against the background of static. No song of her liking was playing, and when she reached the deeper numbers, all they could hear was the irritating background that sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Mia concluded her search for music by turning off the radio and sitting back against her seat, sighing in defeat.

Eric didn't comment on this as he continued driving and the two sat in silence.

Mia touched her lips with her fingers, her elbow resting on the armrest of the car door and her eyes glazed over as they watched what was passing by their automobile.

The streets suddenly seemed empty, and a dense, smooth fog rested on the tops of buildings, almost like a curse. All cars were sitting in parking lots of practically every building they passed, waiting for their owner to return from the stores, and preparing to be filled with bags of useless items. Some sprouts of palm trees poked from the ground behind these buildings, but they seemed old as if they would die soon; their bark was frosted with tiny ice particles, even though it hasn't officially snowed for years. The sky was a silver color as the clouds seemed to be just a chopped-up layer of mist, covering the suppressed sun.

The window in front of Mia's face was fogged from the outside weather being nearly sixty degrees. Just looking at it made her pull her beanie further down her head, covering her ears, her diamond earrings barely shining from beneath the black fabric.

Eric finally pulled their blue car into the spacious lot of the mall. He traveled around for a while, weaving in and out of the aisles, some bare, but some occupied.

Mia sighed impatiently. "Would you pick a spot already, please?"

"Now, now, dear, just be patient." Eric smirked as he raised a finger.

Mia gave another sigh, and then took the moment to slam her back against the chair, a groan escaping from her throat, and then sighing through her lips anxiously. But even though she seemed to want to escape from the car and into the mall, a mildly eerie chill went up her skin; like something way too out of the ordinary was about to happen.

But Mia told herself that it was the cool air that caused the chill as she rubbed her palms against her shoulders.

Finally, Eric pulled into a vacant slot in the middle of a car and empty air. He turned the keys and pulled them out of the ignition, sitting back.

"Finally!" Mia hissed under her breath as she climbed out of the car.

Eric turned and looked out his window, narrowing his eyes. Around the top of the mall, a dark cloud seemed to hang around it, like a dense force was brewing; waiting; sniffing.

His small breath hit the surface of the window with a light wetness. His ears felt exposed against the weather—and he had not even stepped outside of the car yet. He pressed his lips together and narrowed an eye in suspicion.

Suddenly, Mia's bright blue eyes hovered in front of his on the other side of the window. They smiled as she brought up her fist and lightly knocked on it. "You comin'?" Her voice was slightly muffled behind the barrier.

Eric felt a light smile dance on his own lips and he nodded. He unlatched his seatbelt and threw it behind him as he climbed out of the car.

Mia rocked on her toes inside her caramel moccasins, her hands buried in her purple wool jacket pockets. She smiled in anxiousness at the mall, also trying to achieve getting her mind off of the annoying fact of how short she was compared to Eric.

He reached inside the car and brought out his black-and-gray striped jacket. He slipped it around him, his knees bending slightly as if he was trying to reach. He adjusted it, taking a shivering deep breath, and closed the door.

"What _is_ that?" He finally got the question off his mind as he pointed to the cloud above the mall.

Mia shrugged, her dark brown hair whipping around her in the breeze, the blonde ends seemed to mix her hair into the separation almost identical to the sun and moon. "Probably the light show," said she, "You know, like they have every year when the parking lot fair comes."

Eric pursed his lips and looked over his shoulder around the parking lot. "I don't see any fair around here."

Mia didn't seem to pay attention as she jogged across the street despite the fact there were no cars moving.

"Or people," he mumbled under his breath, stopping where he was and scanning the entire lot.

"Come on!" Mia urged him.

He sighed, shaking his head, and turned, following her. His Vans slammed against the concrete ground as he jumped up and onto the sidewalk that surrounded the immediate perimeter around the building.

This mall was shaped in a different way that Mia admired. In the middle was a huge dome with black tiles, but on the inside you were sitting in the food court as the sunlight seemed to reflect and shine in scattered light on the tables. Then, from there, it spread out like branches, connecting to stores, shoes, clothes, gifts…

She breathed in the almost-fresh scent as she opened the heavy black door to the mall. It reminded her of chlorine. Her laugh echoed against the tiles that lined the floors and walls.

Eric held open the door with his fingertips as he followed her inside. "I hope they still have that jacket…" she was saying as they entered. Mia trailed off into a silence as they walked in the store piled and lined with clothes—the store that was waiting to be bought inside—the store that was absolutely empty of any other human life.

"Where is everyone?" Mia asked in a small voice.

Eric didn't answer as he stepped further inside and looked down one pathway that led to the right. He raised a brow. "Dunno,"

"Should we leave?"

He shook his head. "I'm sure there's _someone_ here."

Mia drew in a deep breath and then quickly stepped over to him, having the feeling that she didn't want to be alone. Her fingers tugged on the back of his jacket.

He chuckled as he raised his arm, looking under it and at her. "You're not scared, are you?"

She pouted out a lip, giving him a small glare. "Don't judge me,"

"There's nothing to be scared of!" He laughed as he swung his arms around, gesturing to the remains around them.

"What if the place got robbed just before we came here?"

He gave her a doubtful look.

Mia's shoulders rose to her ears, letting go of the edge of his jacket. "Don't give me that look; it could happen!"

Eric shook his head. "It'll be fine." He took her fingers and then continued walking.

Their shoes made light padding noises. It was so quiet that they could hear the ticking of a clock as they passed by it on the wall. Though when Mia stared at it, the hands weren't moving. When she realized this, she furrowed her brows and turned, telling herself to not look at it again. It was just broken, nothing bad.

"This place is creepy," mumbled Mia. "Look, I think we should just go."

"I'm just going to find someone and ask why there's no one here. No biggie," He waved a hand and then stepped onto an escalator.

Mia sighed. "You do that. I'm gonna stay down here."

"You sure? Not scared are you?" He smirked teasingly enough to make her want to wipe it off his face.

She wrinkled her nose at him as he slowly got higher and higher up. "_No_."

Eric chuckled and then pushed up his glasses with his knuckle, turning away. Then he stepped off onto the metal platform and disappeared.

Mia gave a shaky deep breath and she took out her phone from her gray jeans pocket. She unwrapped her red headphones and plugged them into her ears, turning up her music to get her mind off the fact on how the mall, a place she once loved to go, was starting to frighten her.

She walked around, not able to hear her silent footsteps any longer, and her hands still calmly resting in her pockets. She criticized the clothes hanging on the racks around her, every so often touching the fabric and judging whether or not she could mentally see herself wearing it. Then she'd frown and walk away, continuing onto the next one.

Mia had passed by several empty registers. Looking over her shoulder, she sneaked behind the counter to check out how it looked from this side. From her now-dull blue eyes, there was too much business happening on this side, and decided not to look further into it. She pushed on the counter of the register, which didn't budge, and moved on.

Several times she had to step over or put back up clothing that had been knocked off the racks. Once, she even saw an entire rack tipped over. There was a sticky black substance on the metal, and made a disgusted noise when she touched it. It burned her skin and she wiped it on the hard carpet, wrinkling her nose.

Mia told herself it was just mold from the rack being so old, and that was exactly someone else's reaction. So she stood from her crouch and walked away, the song changing on her playlist.

She walked by the entrance where her and Eric came in through and looked out the doors with the clear windows. It was now almost completely dark outside even though it was the afternoon. Mia's lips twisted into a wry frown as she slowly walked up the aisle to the doors. Her scalp jumped when the lights above her flickered; she sent it a glaring glance and then approached the doors. She pressed her palm against it, the glass feeling ice cold, and her breath appeared in front of her. Her blue eyes twinkled through the spot of fog and she could see the rain pouring against the road. She sighed with relief, causing the fog to become a bigger spot, and thought to herself that she and Eric came inside just in time.

She thought it strange that she couldn't hear the rain pattering against the building, but then the cord of her headphones tickled her collar bone and she remembered it was because she tuned out the eerie noises with her music.

Mia bobbed her head and tapped her heels against the tiles to the beat, walking away from the door and looking around.

She passed by another cash register—another empty one. She learned her lesson not to go behind there now. But behind it was a doorway marked DRESSING ROOMS.

Mia took this as an opportunity and started to the doorway. Her pace was quicker this time, in hope of finding someone to ask questions to. Almost to the doorway, she slipped out an ear bud and poked her head inside.

"Hello?" she asked softly. She only heard her own voice so she called out again, louder. Mia stepped inside and checked each stall.

She sighed in bitterness as she found no one in the first three. But the one at the end had a red liquid seeping out onto the carpet, and she guessed someone had dropped a drink. And according to the odd smell, she guessed that it hadn't been too long ago.

In another burst of hope, she continued to that stall and knocked on the door. "Um…is anyone in here?" She asked in a light tone.

No one responded.

She repeated herself and when there wasn't a response, she tried opening the closed stall door, but it wouldn't budge as it was locked. She sighed in irritation and confusion. "If there's someone in there, could you please come out? There's no one in the mall and it's really bothering my friend and I…" She trailed off, suddenly having the suspicion that she was talking to nothing but silence.

She waited a beat before groaning in agitation and dropping to her knees. Mia swept her hair over her shoulder, pressed her hands to the carpet—a safe distance away from the red liquid—and poked her head under the space beneath the stall door.

Her blue eyes didn't have to wander around much. Immediately when she got down on all fours, she found a person. It was a woman—who didn't have much detail to her, just a normal-looking woman.

"Ma'am? Can you please help—" Mia cut herself off.

Except, she could automatically find what was wrong with her and why she couldn't open the door.

Her skin was unnaturally pale; her body lying on its back, and her limbs sprawled out in painful ways. In the area where her stomach was, there was a hole in her body.

Mia's eyes widened as she could see the parts and blood that should've been inside of the woman. She was so engulfed with horror that she could not find the energy or the courage inside of herself to scream; it was just stuck in her throat. But tears surfaced to her eyes as she immediately scrambled away.

She breathed heavily, sitting with her back against the stall behind her. She took deep breaths, an exasperated scream coming out along with them. It was a weak scream; that was all she could get out.

The tears rolled down her face as she suddenly realized that the red liquid was not, in fact, a drink. It was the woman's blood. Mia's fingers shook so bad that they tangled themselves in her sleeves.

She closed her eyes and took a shivering deep breath. She couldn't bolt out the door, as much as she wanted to, she had to figure out why the woman was like that. So Mia tried the stall next to the woman's to climb under the wall.

She didn't have to climb. In the wall of the next stall over, connecting to the woman's, was a hole large enough for a human to climb through. She gently and cautiously stepped through and brought out her phone, thinking maybe she should tell Eric about this, but when she looked down at the screen, she found she had no service.

Mia cursed lightly under her breath and shakily wiped the remaining tears away from her cheeks as she stared down at the woman. She felt the bile rising in her throat and she pressed her hand to her mouth, backing up until she was leaning against the wall, her knees buckling.

All she could catch was another blood stain on the edge of the seat connected to the wall. And the same blood poured from the woman's head and traveled under the stall door.

Mia tried looking again to decipher how something could have—dissected the woman. But the smell was more ferocious here and she couldn't take it any longer. She exited the stall through the hole and ran out of the stall, sobbing uncontrollably.

She didn't stop running until she reached the edge of the carpet and stepped onto the path of tile that ran horizontally to her. She leaned forward, her palms pressed against her knees, and looked and felt as if she were about to throw up. Her throat was closed up, so it was impossible—and she could hardly breathe through her sobs.

Mia straightened, her legs wobbling, and pressed her jacket sleeve to her face. She glanced over her shoulder, her eyesight blurry due to her tears, and stared at the dressing room. She began to walk down the tile path that was now vertical to her. She jogged to it and screamed, "Someone! Please! Help!"

She checked her phone again so she could try contacting Eric again, but she still had no service.

She cursed louder and put her phone back into her pocket. She continued down the tiles, counting each black one, trying to get her mind away from the edge. Every now and then, Mia yelled out for someone to hear her.

Suddenly, the tile turned red. So did the white one next to it. She stopped, her foot almost slipping on the red color that became a liquid. She caught her breath, hiccupping at the sudden catch, and she began crying again. The red liquid was familiar enough for her to know that it was similar to the woman in the dresser.

Her bright blue eyes followed the path of blood that smeared up the tiles. It looked as though it belonged to someone who was thrashing around a lot.

Her eyes landed on the end of the trail that stopped right in front of a still mannequin wearing ripped clothes.

Mia, sniffling to try and suppress her crying—and having the sudden feeling that she had to be silent so as not to attract anything—cautiously walked up to the mannequin, her soft moccasins not making a sound. Her breath made shivering noises as it escaped from her lips.

But she stopped as she saw the dead, also dissected body next to the mannequin's pedestal. She swallowed hard and looked back up at the displayed body.

Though, it wasn't plastic. Its skin looked real, not wooden. And it seemed unnaturally pale. She couldn't see its face due to a shadow hanging over it.

Suddenly, the lights all around flickered, leaving her in the complete dark for a split second.

When the lights came back on, the mannequin was still there. Except it was in a different position, like it was ready to pounce, and this time, it was looking straight at her.

Mia turned and ran as fast as she'd ever run in her life.


End file.

Walking Dead, Adventure, Horror